Tower Trail

The Tower Trail at Talcott Mountain State Park ascends one of Connecticut's most recognizable landmarks: Heublein Tower, a 165-foot Victorian baronial structure built in 1914 by liquor magnate Gilbert Heublein as a summer retreat atop the basalt ridge overlooking the Farmington River Valley. The trail begins at the lower parking lot off Route 185 in Simsbury and climbs steadily through a chestnut oak and red maple forest on the eastern slope of the Metacomet Ridge before emerging at the tower's dramatic summit setting. The Heublein Tower is constructed of locally quarried traprock in a five-story Alsatian-influenced style, with a wraparound porch at its base and an observation room at its apex. When open on weekends during the park's operating season, visitors can climb the interior staircase to the tower's top for panoramic views spanning 1,200 square miles from Long Island Sound to Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire. The ridge-top views from the tower base are themselves superb: the Farmington River Valley unfolds directly below, with the charming town of Simsbury and its church spires visible in the valley floor. The park is particularly spectacular during fall foliage, when the surrounding ridge-top forest turns vivid orange and the valley below is painted in fall colors. The tower is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is managed by the Connecticut State Parks as a historic site within a natural area.